“I would have been here for you. I…I waited here for you. For years, I waited out here for you.” She refused the embarrassment at the admission. Low-pitched anguish vibrated from his chest, and he scrubbed both hands over the top of his head as he bent over. “It was better I didn’t come, Dakota. You couldn’t reach me then, and the last person you should have been around is someone like me.” Contempt huffed from his nose. “You still shouldn’t be. You learned the proof of that last night.” “I don’t care.” He laughed a hollow sound, and he looked up through the branches at the star-speckled
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